Now that Southwest Airlines has completed its $1 billion purchase of AirTran Holdings, executives have launched the longer-term process of merging the two brands, retraining employees, rolling out larger aircraft, giving makeovers to AirTran planesand positioning Southwest for international expansion.

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly, in Linthicum on Friday for the annual meeting of the BWI Business Partnership, discussed the merger and its impact on air travel for the area.

Though decisions have yet to be made about specific routes and itineraries out of BWI and other airports — especially to and from destinations where the two airlines overlap — Kelly described the Baltimore hub as stable and said it's unlikely travelers through BWI will see radical changes.

"We like to say it's a dawn of a new decade and a new era for us," Kelly told BWI Business Partnership. "We're at the best point we've been in any point of our history. … We want to be bold, aggressive and want to grow, but to do it in a way that maintains financial security and job security."

That means finding ways to add flights and destinations — much of which will happen through the AirTran merger — while maintaining Southwest's position as a low-fare carrier.

"This is a great, vibrant and competitive part of the county and we see … opportunities," he said. "I know there are other airport options, but we want BWI to be the leading airport."

Kelly said the AirTran acquisition will help the company boost revenue to offset the higher fuel costs that are troubling all airlines. Southewest will also look to boost revenue by refining its frequent-flier program and adding larger aircraft. The larger planes will allow for longer flights as the company positions itself to take on and possibly expand AirTran's "near-international" service, which has included flights to the Caribbean and Mexico.

The company is also replacing its reservation system, with an eye toward booking international flights.

In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, Kelly spoke about the future of the Dallas-based airline, which celebrates its 40th year of operation this month.

Can you talk about your expectations for passenger demand this year?

Travel demand for the domestic industry is continuing to strengthen. I'm a little concerned about the state of theeconomy and its impact on business travel recovery in particular. We're seeing significant recovery in business travel, though it's not back to prerecession levels. But consumer travel is quite strong. At Southwest, we're gaining share and setting records every month.

Should passengers expect to see a reduction in flights per day for some destinations at BWI because of route overlaps between Southwest and AirTran?

Things will change, that goes without saying, but things would change without us acquiring AirTran. We'll continue to adjust routes and flight schedules. We've added cities and flights, though the last couple of years we had not added flights because of fuel costs. As long as fuel prices are stable, we'll be able to have a stable flight schedule. AirTran was known for adding [flights] and taking away, and that's not our operating style. We'll integrate AirTran's 14 nonstop destinations at BWI that we don't serve, and we'll try to keep those.

Some cities possibly could see fewer flights, some could see more. … But the overall message is that Baltimore is a very successful and strategic destination. Main route restructuring would begin in 2012.

Are passengers likely to see an increase in fares on Southwest flights at BWI in the wake of the merger?

We're going to work to keep our fares low. The acquisition has no bearing on our philosophy, and there's a lot of competition.

Can you talk about plans to offer or expand short international flights?

Now, international is solely related to AirTran, with seven international destinations. We want to keep those and are working hard to keep them. Southwest is not ready yet to fly international flights, and we're not ready to say we won't expand AirTran [international flights]. … We're going to modify our reservation system so Southwest can offer international flights sooner than later. It could be as early as next year.

What are some steps the airline will take to fold AirTran into Southwest?

[They include] replacing cockpits and seats, reconfiguring seating and repainting AirTran planes to bring them in line with our brand. We want every cockpit to be consistent. We want the customer experience to be the same on every airplane.

What are the biggest merger-related challenges for each airline, operating separately, until the integration is completed?

It's business as usual. But it's an effort for people to take on such a [large] project and the stress of that, on top of operations.

Will the merger lead to job cuts at BWI, where Southwest employs 2,600 and AirTran employs 245?

There's no guarantees, but overall I was interested to do this acquisition because it would create opportunities for all employees for growth and better job security for AirTran. As long as we can sustain the same level of flight activity we will need all these jobs.

Baltimore looks stable to me. The only [major] employee change is at AirTran headquarters. We will close the Orlando headquarters and [try to] offer positions in Dallas or find other work within the company.

What will the AirTran purchase mean for competition at BWI, where Southwest accounts for 70 percent of the passenger traffic, post-merger?

Many of our airports have the same profile, and we're still the low-fare leader. In terms of how we behave in pricing or scheduling, it has little bearing.

Do you expect passenger growth at BWI in 2011 to be in line or greater or less than the 7 percent growth in 2010 for both airlines?